Tuesday, February 14, 2012Last Update: 9:53 AM PT

Texas Fights EPA on Greenhouse Gases

DALLAS (CN) - Texas and Wyoming challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's effort to "immediately impose greenhouse gas regulations" on the states. On appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit, the two states claim the Clean Air Act gives states the primary role in adopting and revising implementation plans, but the EPA has imposed regulations as part of its "greenhouse gas regulatory agenda." Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot issued a statement blasting the "unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats at the EPA" for "flouting the law by denying Texas the opportunity to manage its own air permitting program. The EPA's unlawful scheme threatens Texas jobs and businesses by imposing costly and unnecessary greenhouse gas regulations immediately and improperly. These expensive mandates do little to make our air safer or to control the global warming the EPA insists is threatening our country, while doing great damage to our energy independence and economic recovery," Abbott said. Texas claims the EPA failed to give the state the required 3 years to comply with the greenhouse gas regulations. It claims the EPA threatened to take over part of the state's air permitting program immediately or impose a construction moratorium on the Texas businesses if the state did not agree to comply immediately with the regulations. This dispute is the latest in long-running fight between Texas and EPA. In January, the D.C. Circuit grantedthe state's request to delay implementing new EPA interstate air pollution rules that were to take effect on Jan. 1. The EPA says the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is aimed at cutting emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. At the time, Abbott said the EPA relied on flawed science to advance its "aggressive agenda in spite of the negative effect the new federal regulation would have on Texas' economy, electric grid, and Texans' access to electricity."